Monday, May 31, 2010

The shit fight between the Bulgarians and Chessbase over the broadcast of chess games has erupted anew after the former began formal proceedings in court. Silvio Danailov tells Chessdom:

Before the start of the World Chess Championship we explicitly stated that no company can use the moves without the official site's staff permission. And this was violated by Chessbase, they put themselves above the law in Europe, above the general FIDE ethical rules.

It could be about ethics or it could be about contracts. Or it could just be payback. See the comments section of an old post relating to this same subject.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Times of India today has a very long must-read article on their World Champ, GM Vishy Anand. There are a couple of new tidbits that I hadn't previously known about, but most are the familiar detail.

To counter Team Topalov's Blue Gene/P supercomputer, Team Anand had the decidedly lightweight Hiarcs!

Team Anand may not have been short on money - and that makes a difference to preparation - but there was no way they could match the resources and firepower that such noholds-barred state patronage brings. India, which later celebrated Anand's title win with the usual momentary hysteria, was oblivious to the event, much less the challenges. The best Team Anand could do was to tap into contacts who had developed Hiarcs, a computer chess program that had come second best to Rybka in 2008 World Computer Chess Championship. They now had improved versions of it, and developers of the programme let Team Anand have it along with a powerful computer for the duration of the match.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

It looks like I'll be seeing some action this Sunday, for the first time since January. A Tokyo-based reader (yeah, I only have one so far!) informed me about the upcoming Matsudo Spring Tournament hosted by the Matsudo Chess Club.

If you happen to be in Tokyo this Sunday, here are the usual details.

Four-round Swiss system, 40min + 15sec/move (Fischer mode). Venue will be the Art Center of Tokyo, in Kitasenju plus an entry fee 2,000 yen. With the Aussie's recent slide against the yen, that amount is now about $27.

Of course this means I'm going to have to do some training leading up to the weekend. But in Tokyo, "training" doesn't quite mean rocking up to the park and laying down a few games of 5-minute blitz, like I usually used to do before a big event. No, for me it's 3-minute games of blitz on the ICC. Less bullets this time.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Graeme Gardiner dropped in to make a comment on my post yesterday about the Old Man of Aussie Chess. How about Grand Old Woman, he asked. Indeed.

I know of Evelyn Koshnitsky, who is 95, and now I am reminded of Nell Van De Graaff, also aged 95! Not quite sure if Mrs Koshnitsky still has the time or even the energy to play a game, but Graeme hopes that Nell will make an appearance in the upcoming Gold Coast Open (26-27 June).

Speaking of women in the Australian chess scene, my googling for some info led me to a gem of a post by Cathy Chua. This one's apparently a portion that didn't quite make the cut for her book, "Australian Chess at the Top".

Koshnitsky’s patrons were grown women, of course, and to create a player of top class it was surely necessary to begin with much younger pupils. That is where the second creator of mountains enters. Evelyn Koshnitsky has made her life’s work the promotion of chess among the young and her special passion has been to get girls to play. First in Sydney and then in Adelaide from the early 1960s when the couple moved there she cajoled, begged and bullied support. Manpower, money, venues – she is an expert at getting what she wants from parents, schools, government, business – whoever might have something of use.

Monday, May 24, 2010

When Smyslov died a couple of months ago, one of my friends asked as to who is now the oldest living former World Chess Champion. Must admit, I had to think hard about that one.

I was reminded of that because in my hot little hands is a copy of Brian Jones' "Australian Chess" magazine. In the back pages of the current issue is a nice tribute to Garry Koshnitsky, written by Robert Jamieson and Glen Gibbs.

Their first line reads: "Garry Koshnitsky MBE, the 'Grand Old Man of Australian Chess' was born Garrick Semienovich Koshnitsky on 6 October 1907 in Vilnius, Lithuania (at the time part of the Russian Empire)."

There it is again, "Grand Old Man of Australian Chess". I called Lloyd that, taking my cue from Peter Parr. Which makes me wonder: is that some sort of monicker that's given to the oldest bloke on the Aussie chess scene? If so, who is today Australia's Grand Old Man of Chess?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Did you see today's Insiders program on the ABC? The program dropped in on the Melbourne Chess Club to talk about national opposition leader, Tony Abbott (or, after his gaffe last week, "Phony Tony").

You can see a replay of the segment by clicking on "Your shout: Abbott's gaffe a calculated move" on the right hand side panel of the Insiders website. Note that when program goes into the archives, you need to find the episode that was aired on 23 May.

I see FM Michael Baron and MCC boss Grant Szuveges. I have no idea who the funky-looking lady is!

Here are some juicy quotes.

Grant Szuveges on Tony Abbott"He'd have to reinvent himself more completely as a person if he was to be taken more seriously."

"Stop wearing the bike gear."

Michael Baron on Tony Abbott"In politics just like in chess, if a particular piece is becoming useless, it's going to be sacrificed."

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Chess players look at poker and think, "Wow, if only we had all that money", and then waste plenty of time imagining all sorts of ways to make chess more exciting, like poker.

But much to my surprise I've just discovered a very popular game that is apparently in an even worse state than chess, at least money-wise.

Bridge!

Author of "Australian Chess at the Top", Cathy Chua, who now blogs on bridge, writes:

I was hoping to find out how many people actually watched this live, but so far have not succeeded. Hundreds of thousands maybe? Over a million euros for the winner, going on for that for the runnerup and richly deserved by both. It was a fabulous contest, the games were wildly exciting.

Why can’t bridge be like that? Have we exhausted the arguments?

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of reactions and I never thought that I'd feel warm, happy about chess thanks to a blog about bridge. I particularly loved this: "Bridge has a long way to go in the propaganda wars before people are saying this about it." And by "this", the commenter meant the description of the New York Times Gambit Blog.

Also catching my attention was this remark by Cathy in the comment section: "In contrast, when I played two chess Olympiads**, a sport which is respected by the community and sponsored as a consequence, I paid nothing."

Sponsored? The last sponsor of an Australian Olympiad team that I can remember was a company that, aptly enough, produced prophylactics! Who else sponsored the Aussies back in the day?

Friday, May 21, 2010

Not long after his passing a couple of weeks ago, the former boss of FIDE Florencio Campomanes now has his own memorial tournament. Actually, it's supposed to be called the "Angora Chess Tournament", but was apparently changed when the organisers learned of Campo's passing.

I suppose we should tip our hats to the organisers for such a gesture. They meant well. But such a tiny tournament is hardly apt for a giant in world chess, no matter one's opinion of him. So I hope this name change is only temporary. Besides, an event to be called a "Florencio Campomanes Memorial" really ought to be in the right place: the Philippines.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Peter Parr has just announced a very sad news. Lloyd Fell, the Grand Old Man of Australian Chess, passed away aged 91.

Without access to my old Aussie magazines, I cannot possibly do justice to his long chess playing life. But two details are worth a mention. First, he did not miss a single Doeberl Cup from 1963 to 2008. Second, he was also once a champion of draughts up in Queensland.

Doubtless many others will remember Lloyd for his often blunt manner of speaking, but I always thought that quality about him to be one of honesty. "You're a mug!" he would often dismiss people. If you got that, you deserved it.

He was also generous, giving away some of his chess books to juniors for example. And always willing to show off a few endgame studies that he would have learned a long, long time ago. Of course, let's not forget that even in the last couple of years of his life, he was always willing to offer his modest pad to accommodate visiting players from interstate.

I am proud to say that he and I crossed swords over-the-board. And yes, he beat me. Twice, if I remember right.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

This event seems to have come around quickly. The United States Chess Championships are on again in St Louis and, just like last year, we're getting treated to some ESPN style video coverage. It's one thing that the yanks do quite well. But geez, who the hell designed the set? It looks like the interior of some mausoleum!

With thanks to the ICC's Macauley Peterson. Make sure to also check out his blog here.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

WARNING: This post links to a website that contains sexually explicit images. They are 'not safe for work' (NSFW).

The people at Artmunk are about to release a follow up to their 2006 game, "Lovechess: Age of Egypt". Entitled "Lovechess: Salvage", the new game takes the graphics at least a couple of levels up. Here's a screenshot, the safest image I felt I could use on this blog!

And from the website: "Besides the visual side of things we also implemented a new "sex" system, this time you can guide your "pieces" while they have sex and let them reach an orgasm if you play correctly. A good fight should have a proper reward after all!"

Monday, May 17, 2010

The second instalment in Bobby Ang's "Campo and I" is out. You can read it in Monday's edition of Business World paper in the Philippines. Better move fast before it gets archived, after which I think you'd have to pay for the access.

I must say, I was expecting a second part that would be packed full of exciting details. As it turned out, the whole saga seemed like it was nothing more than a clash of personalities. To be fair, though, a two-part series can hardly do justice to a story that must surely have unfolded over many years.

Bobby Ang on Campomanes:

Campo once said that he regretted not having a chance to destroy my life completely. He couldn’t, of course, for unlike many of the unfortunate souls who came before me, chess was not a source of income for me. When I quit chess administration I went to work in the Equitable Card Network and found happiness there.

That is Campo -- he brings you up and oftentimes himself finds it necessary to destroy you. Taras Bulba. But you know what? It did not end so pleasantly, but those four years from 1998 to 2001 when we were closely working together to better the chess life in the country, were the best years of my life, and I owe them to Campo.

If you're lucky enough to be on Bobby's email list, you might actually get to read more about all this courtesy of his old articles from way back. He's even sent out a copy of the rare "Chess Philippines" magazine that set out the "bad things" that the then PCF was doing.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

My only chess fix these days is 1-minute bullet on the Internet Chess Club. Twenty games or so per night is about enough. You play so many of these that chances are some unsuspecting IM will fall flat at your mercy. And that's exactly what happened to this guy (whose name I've anonymised).

Well, OK, it's only bullet, but his normal blitz rating is 2600+ and I beat him twice in a row!

Hopefully it won't be long before I finally get back to some over-the-board action. A Tokyo-based reader informs me that a new chess club will open very near to where I live! Thank Caissa for that.

If there's something I truly miss, it is the dance of pieces all about the board and punctuated by the slamming of clocks. I miss the feel and the sounds of it all.

Actually, there's supposed to be a tournament tomorrow. But I'm off to some festival, instead, where the Yakuza apparently show their tattoos. I plan to photograph them. If you guys don't hear from me again, you'll know why.

Friday, May 14, 2010

It's out. The first in a 2-part series of articles that outlines the history of the National Chess Fed of the Philippines can now be read online.

I really like what Bobby Ang said to a bunch of us in an email to excite his readers:

A lot of people think that the NCFP was set up by the top players of the Philippines when they got fed up with the PCF. They think GM Joey got mad at the PCF for deducting 20% from his P1 Million prize in the Philippine Millenium Grand Prix. They think GM Eugene Torre set it up because of the continuing persecution from PCF.

That, of course, is complete BS.

The NCFP was set up by Campo, myself, Sammy Estimo with Eugene Torre as figurehead and great assistance from GM Bong Villamayor, backed by some businessmen/sportsmen, who will remain unnamed.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

There was Kevin07 (with plans for Kevin11) in Australia and Obama08 in the US. Now, taking their cue from these two very successful campaigns, and clearly taking the war for FIDE to the trenches of the internet, the Anatoly Karpov camp have produced 'Karpov2010'.

On May 17, 2010, KARPOV2010 will launch its campaign to elect the twelfth world chess champion, Anatoly Karpov, as President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) with a fundraiser at the Trump Soho in New York City. Mr. Karpov is running with Richard A. Conn Jr. as his Deputy President, and if they win, it will be the first time an American will hold such a high position in FIDE.

I'm sure it won't be long before we see the almost obligatory YouTube videos and Twitter account. But there is already a group on Facebook, started by ChessVibes writer Arne Moll, dedicated to changing FIDE.

GM Vishy Anand, on the black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined, defeated challenger GM Veselin Topalov in their twelfth and final World Championship match in Sofia. It was probably downhill for the challenger once the Indian slipped in 31...e4, totally penetrating. But the game lasted for 25 more moves, with the Bulgarian in the end looking like he was just taking the piss.

Congratulations Vishy! A sweet win also for those who have more than a few things to say against the Bulgarians.

The question now is: who will be Anand's next challenger? Carlsen, perhaps?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Reading the condolences and comments on a couple of websites on the death of Campomanes, you would think that the man was free from the controversies that dogged him. Certainly, one of my own readers showed no mercy, but he was clearly outnumbered. I think that most people basically just opted to be decent: de mortuis nil nisi bonum.

Speak no ill of the dead.

This coming Friday and next Monday in his column for the Philippines' BusinessWorld publication, former RP men's Olympiad team captain Bobby Ang will run a mini series entitled "Campo and I". As Mr Ang promises, it will be "a short recounting of the events which led to the NCFP [National Chess Federation of the Philippines] taking over from PCF [Philippine Chess Federation] as the official governing body of chess in the Philippines".

I'm sure that it will be interesting reading. And perhaps, then, we'll finally get to see some real claws.

Monday, May 10, 2010

They're dropping off like the pawns in the BDG. Now yet another big name from an earlier era passes away.

RIP Andor Lilienthal.

Chessbase has the better pictures but, as always, Chessvibes has the superior discussion with some very fine nuggets from their readers. (Which, by the way, always begs the question for me: when, oh when, will Chessbase ever enter the 21st century as far as web-publishing is concerned?)

Earlier, of course, was Campo's death at age 83. To their credit, FIDE has a nice page that includes condolences from various feds around the world, including even one from New Zealand. There was no such message from the Australians.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Last night's game number 9 in Topalov v Anand had everything: risk-taking, close calls, missed chances and a confused as well as frustrated audience. It's really the sort of mix that elevates chess to the level of sport. Even I had heart palpitations along with a rising level of anger that the Indian had once again stuffed up. It reminded me of those nights when I'd scream at the Wallabies (at the TV, actually) as they would once again falter in the last few minutes against the All Blacks.

If I patzer like me got near upset, just consider the reaction of one big-name US grandmaster. On the Internet Chess Club last night, here's a series of what he kibitzed:

"I was surprised by Ne4".

"[T]hey play quick and mediocre at best".

"[T]his is the worst game of the match".

Then when another spectator observed that perhaps it was Aruna, Anand's wife and manager, who was making the moves, the American GM replied that Aruna would have played 33. Nxe6 instead of 33. Ne4.

Anyway, after what I thought were some hairy moments, the Indian did manage to draw. Thank Caissa for that.

I've just woken up and the first chess news I spot is that Campo is dead at 83. Whatever we may think of this man, he sure did put Philippines chess on the map! In fact, I'd say that he put chess on the map.

I met him twice, the first time was in Sydney for the Saintly Cup and the second time was in Dresden. He always seemed like a gentleman and very civilised.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Goldman Sachs is very much analogous to a queen in the chess game being played by the ownership class—the richest pools of private capital controlled by multi-generational wealthy families that hover above countries via the central banking system. It has been one of the most potent pieces on the board for many years, its most recent attack being on the entire nation of Greece. But as the endgame comes into view, perhaps the most brilliant play to reach checkmate is now the queen sacrifice. Goldman employees had better be sending their resumes to JP Morgan Chase—a critical chess piece in the endgame that will be protected at all costs.

Note that I'm presently in Kyoto, Japan. As Japan celebrates Golden Week, I thought I'd haul myself down to the old capital for some culinary and geisha adventures. Since I'll be terribly occupied, there's no guarantee that I'll be doing any updates for the next coupe of days.